Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

In case you didnt know, Wal-Mart not only wants to take over the
world, destroy communities and stick it to workers it wants to let
you die in its parking lot.

Thats the picture of the successful retailer painted
in the new attack-umentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price,
produced by Robert Greenwald.

Greenwald used the familiar liberal template of
emotional appeals that ignore vital facts. Never mind that Wal-Mart
provided low prices that allowed lower-income Americans to afford
items they couldnt otherwise, raising their standard of living. No,
never mind that, as This Land Is Your Land played against scenes
of shuttered hometown stores. Never mind that as Greenwald lined up
religious leaders on his side: As Christians were not about
capital. Were about people. Money is the root of evil. You
shall not steal. This is David versus Goliath.

No, economic facts had no place in a film that sank to
the low of blaming Wal-Mart for the actions of malicious criminals.
Tugging shamelessly on the audiences heartstrings, Greenwald
interviewed crying family members of a girl who was abducted from a
Wal-Mart parking lot and subsequently murdered. Accusing the store
of putting profits before human life, those interviewed were
convinced that if there had only been better security, their loved
one would still be with them. But heartless Wal-Mart wouldnt waste
money on protecting people.

Better security is always a good thing. And no one is
going to say Wal-Mart is perfect. But blaming Wal-Mart for the
heinous criminal choices of the truly heartless is beyond
ridiculous. Unfortunately, the audience wasnt seeing right through
the reasoning. They gasped and shook their heads at all the points
Greenwald intended. Its that kind of unquestioning acceptance of
propaganda that made it so effective.

The films logic was confusing, though, considering its
anti-free market agenda. According to the tragic tales of crime in
the parking lots, its Wal-Marts responsibility to protect its
shoppers, even outside its store. Its also Wal-Marts
responsibility to take care of all its employees in the form of
expensive benefits packages, the film argued. In fact, the film even
indicted the company for allowing its low-income employees to seek
government aid.

Isnt government supposed to be good? Thats an
interesting departure from the liberal love of taxpayer-subsidized
programs and the usual assumption that its the governments
responsibility to feed, clothe, house and protect everyone.

Greenwald also took aim at local governments that had
offered tax breaks and other incentives for Wal-Mart to locate in
their communities. He used a failsafe emotional device children
to make a flawed comparison. Citing the amounts of tax breaks stores
had received, Greenwald showed how many schools that money could
have funded. Of course, this comparison is bogus, because the money
he was talking about never belonged to the government in the first
place. It was money NOT paid in taxes. Based on his misleading
presentation, one might think the government actively took money out
of its education treasury and handed it to Wal-Mart.

Also in the realm of the misleading, the film showed a
toy manufactured in a Chinese factory for a cost of 18 cents and
then jumps to the U.S. retail price of $14.95. The implication was
that Wal-Mart simply marked up the item at a whopping 8,300 percent,
failing to take other costs into account such as getting it from
China to the United States, or paying workers and overhead costs all
along the line.

Greenwalds case against Wal-Mart management was based
on a handful of former managers who alleged shady things going on at
their former stores. He also visited employees trying to unionize to
fight the soulless management. As one employee working with union
organizers wished, This is our store. This isnt their store.

The film did try to address some serious issues,
including allegations that Wal-Mart instructed its workers in
Chinese plants to lie to inspectors about working conditions, as
well as one stores problems complying with environmental
regulations. It is widely known that the company is working on
public relations. But claims against the company in Greenwalds film
were undermined by his hyperbole and his staunch refusal to
acknowledge the way Wal-Mart really impacted communities paying
millions in taxes, employing thousands, and saving countless
shoppers millions of dollars.

The Business & Media Institute has addressed media coverage of
the movie and its inaccuracies
here.

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